Papaya… Paw Paw… My All Time Favorite

I read that Papaya is called Paw Paw in Australia and plentiful all year round…. well I have two friends there and hopefully, they will let me know if that’s true?

Papaya is one of the first natural digestive enzymes I started taking many years ago, (pill form) then when I moved to CA, I found the papaya to not only be plentiful but sweet, delicious and amazing elegant desert. I grew up in the South and I had never had Papaya as it’s a more tropical fruit and at that time not so plentiful in our grocery stores. Plus we generally ate what we grew on the farm rather than buy much produce at the store. Among it’s many benefits, Papaya also helps lower the inflammation in the body so can be an excellent food source for people with sports injuries or arthritis.

The enzymes of the papaya aid in digestion and breaking down proteins into amino acids. Because it helps with anti-nausea, it can be beneficial to treat the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation. I used to always have papaya on hand to snack on and generally ended my meal with some papaya desert concoction I came up, depending on how ripe my stash of papayas were at the time.

The skin is not edible but the seeds have a spicy, sharp taste and could be ground to use as a black pepper substitute. I’ve never tried this substitute because personally, I LOVE fresh ground black pepper!

Papaya is pretty easy to find for Breakfast or Lunch around Southern CA restaurants. Papaya is sweet and succulent, one of the healthiest of nature’s fruits. An exquisite tropical fruit and so easy to prepare a variety of ways. If you have not tried it, please do and let me know how you like it.